Китай - Южный Кавказ: Сотрудничество в транспортно-логистических узлах «Пояса и пути»

Although TITR was the most problematic of the EBSR routes, due to frequent modes and border changes, Western sanctions against Russia, virtual bans on the transit of Ukrainian cargo to Asia, months-long blockade of Turkish cargo [Forbes.com 2017], it has become the main alternative for many Chinese freight forwarders due to military operations in Ukraine. According to forecasts of the TITR association, in 2022 cargo transportation through the territory of CA and the Caucasus may amount to 3.2 million tons, which is 6 times higher than the figure in 2021. The cancellation of new bookings through Russia in April by one of the world's largest shipping corporations, Maersk, which preferred TITR cargo, and was joined in May by the Finnish company Nurminen Logistics, gave a boost to the Middle Corridor. The governments of Romania, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Kazakhstan discussed (the presidents of Turkey and Kazakhstan in Ankara in May) further investments and deepening of cooperation along the TITR route [Standish 2022].

Azerbaijan is a part the Trans-Caucasus Transit Corridor (TCTC/CTC), which connects Azerbaijan and Georgia with Europe, China, and other nearby regional partners. The corridor is comprised of roads, railways, the Caspian Sea port of Alat, and the Black Sea ports of Poti and Batumi in Georgia. The length of the corridor in Azerbaijan is about 503 km from Baku to the Georgian border. In Georgia, it extends for about 384 km eastward. Significant infrastructure investments in both Azerbaijan and Georgia are expected to have a noticeable effect on transit times to and from the seaports in the Black and Caspian seas [The World Bank 2020a, P. 3]. The TCTC has the potential to play a larger role in connecting China with Europe, and CA with the global economy. The strategic importance of the corridor is determined by geopolitical, economic, transport and other factors. But it faces many challenges as it crosses multiple borders, the Caspian and Black Seas, and includes major economic blocs with competing interests such as the EU, China and Russia. The EU is interested in expanding the trans-European transport network to Azerbaijan and Georgia, and joining China through the inclusion of the BRI in the TCTC [The World Bank 2020a, P. 5].

Worth noting that most of infrastructure projects along the TCTC are financed not by Beijing, but by Baku (including the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan, the sovereign wealth fund) and international financial institutions such as the World Bank Group, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the AIIB, the European Investment Bank. Investment projects, both completed and ongoing, include Baku's new port in Alat (Alat Free Economic Zone/FEZ created within Alat International Sea Trade Port); construction, repair, electrification and modernization of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway; Rehabilitation of the Baku-Ganja and E-60 road to the Georgian border [The World Bank, 2020b, P. 4].

The already operational BTK railway is also of great interest to Beijing [Варданян 2021]. As an important component of the ISR, is a new significant stage in the development of the Silk Road Transport Corridor (or TRACECA) project [Ismailov, Papava 2018, P. 10]. Although China was not involved in the financing or construction of the BTK line, it will serve as another route for Chinese exports to Turkey and Europe [Tavsan 2017].

Thanks to the B&R, Georgia as a logistics and transport hub will become a multi-regional hub connecting Europe, East Asia, India, CA and the ME [Политонлайн.Ру, 2015]. Taking advantage of its unique geographical location, Georgia can expand cooperation with China in such areas as railway transport, port and road construction [Xinhua 2016]. With the strengthening of GUAM8 and the positions of the US, Georgia has become an arena of collision between the interests of the US on the one hand and the interests of Russia and China on the other. Special concerns about the "manipulation" of Georgia by the West appeared in China after it signed the Association Agreement with the EU in 2014 [Воробьева 2020, С. 658].